Why Does the Torah Begin With Creation? The Netivot Shalom Explains

In Bereishit, we begin the annual Torah reading cycle with perhaps the most famous verse in the Torah:

“In the beginning, Hashem created the heavens and the earth” (Bereishit 1:1).

Rabbi Shalom Noach Berezovsky, zt”l, the Slonimer Rebbe, offers a profound interpretation of this verse in his Netivot Shalom, connecting the creation of the world, faith in Hashem, and the Jewish people’s relationship with the Land of Israel.

He begins with Rashi’s famous first comment on the Torah:

“Rabbi Yitzchak said: The Torah should have begun only with ‘This month shall be for you,’ which is the first mitzvah commanded to Israel. So why did it begin with Bereishit? Because of ‘He declared to His people the power of His works, to give them the inheritance of nations.’

“So that if the nations of the world say to Israel, ‘You are robbers, because you conquered the lands of the seven nations,’ they can answer: ‘The entire earth belongs to Hashem. He created it and gave it to whomever He saw fit. By His will, He gave it to them; by His will, He took it from them and gave it to us.’”

Why is this message so fundamental that the Torah begins with it?

Why Does the Torah Begin With Bereishit?

The Netivot Shalom explains that Rabbi Yitzchak’s teaching contains several fundamental ideas.

First, the purpose of the Torah is deeply connected to the Land of Israel. Hashem brought the Jewish people out of Egypt in order to bring them to the cherished land, and the spiritual significance of the land is inseparable from the Torah meant to be lived within it.

Second, the Jewish people’s relationship with the Land of Israel is presented differently from the ordinary military conquests of nations throughout history.

Third, Rashi’s explanation indicates that the Jewish people must be able to answer the nations of the world. The Netivot Shalom connects this to the idea of being blameless before both Hashem and other people, and to Jacob’s struggle with the ministering angel of Esau, which continued until the angel acknowledged his blessing.

But what is the answer?

The answer begins with the very first verse of the Torah: Hashem created the world.

The Jewish people’s claim to the land, according to Rashi’s explanation, is therefore rooted not merely in physical power, but in faith in the Creator. Hashem created the earth and ultimately determines its destiny.

The Netivot Shalom teaches that Rabbi Yitzchak foresaw a time when faith in Hashem as the Creator would ultimately take root throughout humanity: that Hashem is One, that there is no other, and that He created the heavens, the earth, and the Torah.

Faith Is the Foundation

The Netivot Shalom continues by asking what the Torah should logically have begun with.

“It seems to me that Rabbi Yitzchak was certain that the Torah should begin with that mitzvah which is the foundation of all foundations, and which Rambam, of blessed memory, also brings first in the Laws of the Foundations of the Torah: to believe in Hashem, who created the world out of nothing.”

Why, then, did Rabbi Yitzchak suggest that the Torah should have begun with “This month shall be for you”?

The Netivot Shalom explains that the Exodus from Egypt serves as an introduction to the fundamental mitzvah of faith in Hashem, expressed in the first of the Ten Commandments.

Yet because of the verse, “He declared to His people the power of His works, to give them the inheritance of nations,” the Torah begins even earlier, with the creation of the world itself.

The Netivot Shalom writes:

“‘Zion shall be redeemed through justice, and those who return to her through righteousness.’ Therefore, He gave us a legal weapon, to show that we did not achieve this strength through our own power and the might of our own hands.”

The message is crucial. The Jewish people are not meant to believe that their strength comes solely from themselves.

Instead, the Netivot Shalom teaches that everything begins with faith: faith that Hashem created heaven and earth and faith in the truth of His Torah.

He continues:

“If faith takes root in the heart of every Jew, that Hashem created the heavens and the earth, and that His Torah is true, then the matter will also be placed in our hands.”

The True “Weapons” of the Jewish People

The Netivot Shalom then turns to a teaching of Chazal:

“The voice is the voice of Jacob” (Bereishit 27:22).

The sages teach that “the voice” represents the spiritual strength associated with Jacob, while “the hands are the hands of Esau” represent physical power.

The Netivot Shalom explains that the Jewish people possess a unique form of strength through the “voice”: faith, Torah, and prayer.

If we understand and value this spiritual power, he teaches, our ability to act in the physical world is strengthened as well.

He connects this to another teaching of Chazal concerning Jacob’s words:

“Which I took from the hand of the Amorite with my sword and my bow” (Bereishit 48:22).

Are the Jewish people meant to place their trust in swords and bows?

Elsewhere, Scripture states:

“For I do not trust in my bow, and my sword will not save me” (Tehillim 44:7).

Chazal therefore explain “my sword” as prayer and “my bow” as supplication.

The message is not that physical action has no place. Rather, the Netivot Shalom teaches that the Jewish people must understand where their ultimate strength comes from. Physical action must be accompanied and empowered by faith in Hashem, prayer, and recognition of Divine providence.

From the End of the Torah Back to the Beginning

The Netivot Shalom concludes by making a beautiful connection between the Torah’s final verses and its opening words.

At the end of the Torah, we read:

“And for all the mighty hand that Moses performed before the eyes of all Israel” (Devarim 34:12).

What was the source of the strength Moshe gave the Jewish people?

The Netivot Shalom connects it directly back to the opening verse of Bereishit:

“In the beginning, Hashem created the heavens and the earth.”

Moshe strengthened the hands of Israel by planting faith in their hearts.

The Netivot Shalom points to the battle with Amalek:

“And whenever Moses raised his hands, Israel prevailed” (Shemot 17:11).

But the Mishnah famously asks:

“Did Moses’ hands make war or break war?”

Rather, whenever the Jewish people looked upward and subjected their hearts to their Father in Heaven, they prevailed.

This creates a powerful bridge between the end of the Torah and its beginning. The “mighty hand” of Moshe ultimately leads us back to Bereishit and the foundation upon which everything rests: faith that Hashem created and governs the world.

The Torah therefore begins not with human strength, but with Hashem.

“In the beginning, Hashem created the heavens and the earth.”

According to the Netivot Shalom, this is not simply the story of how the world began. It establishes the foundation for everything that follows: our faith in Hashem, our relationship with Torah, our connection to the Land of Israel, and our understanding of where true strength comes from.

The Jewish people must certainly act in the physical world, but our deepest strength comes from the “voice of Jacob”: Torah, prayer, faith, and trust in Hashem.

When that faith is firmly planted within us, our physical actions are no longer separated from our spiritual purpose. The two work together, allowing us to fulfill Hashem’s will with confidence while remembering that the ultimate source of our strength is the Creator Himself.